The War of the Beef

Hurricane 'Aude'

Paris:- Sunday, 14. November 1999:- You probably
have not noticed that we are in the midst of a three-way
transatlantic and cross-channel beef war.

The US has sanctioned French goods because France
refuses to allow the import of US beef full of hormones.
France is also refusing to allow the import of beef from
Britain on account of 'Mad-Cow' disease, which the French
do not think has been eradicated.

While the US has slapped French goods with sur-taxes -
hitting their own French-product-addicted citizens in the
pocketbook - Britain took its case to Brussels and the
Eurobonzen decided in Britain's favor.

France has run out of appeals but is still dithering about whether to step in line, or find
some 'French-logic' solution which will allow France to
squirm out of its corner gracefully.

A shop in the
Cour de Commerce Saint-André.

Meanwhile, In Britain, consumers have taken the matter
into their own hands - led by the island's gutter-press,
mostly owned by Rupert Murdock (ex-Ozzie) - and are
boycotting French products. This is done with glee by all
who never consumed anything French anyway.

The French position with both of the beefs is the same -
are they fit to eat? According to TV-news, US cattlemen
don't know. According to a reliable source, there have been
a thousand cases of 'Mad-Cow' disease in Britain this year.
A 'case' used to involve the destruction of an entire herd,
but this is no longer done in Britain - but is in
France.

France is already not immune, with a dozen or 30 'cases'
reported here. Okay, there is 'doubt' that 'Mad-Cow'
disease is transmissible to humans. There is 'doubt' that
hormones in US beef will cause people to be born with three
ears.

One way for consumers to eat without 'doubt' is to
consume no beef at all.

However, the 'genie' is out of the bottle - with
France's own cases of Mad-Cow disease and with the ease
that the world's athletes continue to dope themselves into
better performances if they don't get caught.

Why not, then, just give in? It is quite simple really.
French 'logic' does not permit 'giving in.' It could just
be French news, but Germany is also quietly not importing
any beef from Britain - which seems not to bother Brussels
in the slightest.

Brit Ranchers To Boycott Beaujolais
Nouveau

French producers have orders to ship 1.3 million bottles
of Beaujolais Nouveau to Britain next Wednesday afternoon.
This is a slight increase over orders for 1998.

So far, British consumers are boycotting only French
apples - because they can get substitutes from elsewhere.
But France is the world's biggest exporter of apples and
Britain is its single largest customer; normally taking a
thousand truckloads a month at this time of year.

In fact, except for the headline in Le Parisien, there
is nothing concrete in its report about any British boycott
of Beaujolais Nouveau this year.

Could it be that Mr. Murdock has quietly acquired Le
Parisien and has brought in some Brit tabloid types to pep
it up? Turn to page three.

Hurricane Aude

During the day of last Friday, an anti-cyclone was
circling out of Spain into the Mediterranean, to loop
towards southern France's east-facing Gulf of Lion. The
weather system was high, picking up a lot of water from the
sea.

It hit the French coast, centred on the Aude department,
on the city of Narbonne, and as it moved inland it dumped
about three metres of rain within 15 minutes. At the same
time, its winds pushed the Mediterranean onshore, up the
rivers draining the departments of the Aude,
Pyrénées-Orientales and Tarn.

More rain fell than the area usually gets in a year. All
towns and villages near any rivers, were immediately
flooded. By this evening, 26 were reported killed and two
were missing.

Authorities called in thousands of firemen, gendarmes,
the army, Foreign Legion divers and all other civil
protection units. By today, as waters receded, many towns
were left full of mud.

Inhabitants who were not killed, trapped on lower floors
by water and mud, sometimes waited more than 24
hours for help to arrive. At the height of the storm, aid
of any sort was practically impossible. By yesterday aid
was massive, but was hindered by the extent of the
destruction.

Seemingly new snack kiosk in the Place
de la Concorde.

TV-news showed the twisted wreckage of train tracks,
looking like a jumble of fish bones. Many homes in the area
are Catalan-style, with their kitchens on the ground floor
- all destroyed. Thousand-year old bridges were washed out.
By late today, there was still a lake of water two metres
deep in north Narbonne and drinking water was being trucked
in.

President Chirac, on a visit to Marseille, hurried
quickly to the scene yesterday, while rain was still
falling. Only two means of transport were available - boats
and helicopters.

The minister of the interior toured the area of the
catastrophe today - announcing that a decision to declare
the region a disaster area would be made during the
week.

Many main roads remain closed because it is not known
how badly they have been undermined by the water, while
countless smaller roads on hillsides have collapsed, making
them impassable.

The area has had similar storms before; on 11. February
1959 and again in 1963. Dikes that held then did not this
time. Long-time residents could not remember anything like
it. Many lost all of their personal possessions, and even
if their homes were not destroyed they were full of
mud.

The administrative centre of Carcassonne is located on
the plain of the river Aude on its Mediaeval hill as are
many other towns, and these were spared.

But just to the north, there is a scenic mountainous
area, where towns and villages are located in narrow
canyons near rivers. Reestablishing basic communications
services will not be an easy matter in these areas.

Meanwhile, rescue operations were underway to aid two
sets of cave explorers, trapped by water. Two were brought
out safely late tday from one site north of Cahors and
another group of seven were still being sought
tonight.